FAYETTEVILLE - The walls in Mike Anderson's Bud Walton Arena office are bare. So, too, are the shelves that sit just behind his desk.

It has been three months since Anderson was named Arkansas' coach, accepting the task of rejuvenating a program that has experienced a decade of frustration since he was a Razorbacks assistant under Nolan Richardson. The empty office is an obvious sign the work of making the program relevant once again has just begun.

But Anderson said he couldn't be more eager about the process in an interview

last week.

"There's a lot of work to be done," Anderson said as he looked around the room. "But day one, when I got here, that's what we've done. We rolled up our sleeves and went to work."

Don't call it a rebuilding job, though. It's a term Anderson doesn't like to use when describing his goals with the Razorbacks. He doesn't think it fits a program that has enjoyed as much success as Arkansas basketball, even if most of it came more than a decade ago.

So instead, Anderson prefers to call it the remodeling of Arkansas basketball. It's a multi-layered job, no doubt, but one Anderson has jumped into head first since his arrival.

"That means physically, mentally and in all aspects," Anderson said, describing his plans to remodel the program. "Whether we talk about the players remodeling, getting their mindset right. Our fanbase and the physical parts of this building, too. It's remodeling. We have the right to do that because we own the building."

Of course, the past two months have been a harsh reminder it won't always go smoothly. It started when Arkansas was docked one scholarship because of its poor Academic Progress Rate. It was a penalty Arkansas expected to serve in 2012-13, but now may accept next season.

The reason? After a relatively quiet two months void of transfer talk, three players left the program in June. In addition, signee Aaron Ross isn't expected to be academically eligible.

So the departures mean Arkansas will likely enter the season with 10 scholarship players, which isn't ideal in the up-tempo style the Razorbacks plan to implement. But assistant T.J. Cleveland - Anderson's nephew who has worked with him at Alabama-Birmingham and Missouri - said the Razorbacks won't stray from their plan.

"I won't even call them unexpected twists and turns because we've been through this before at two different schools," said Arkansas assistant T.J. Cleveland, who also is Anderson's nephew. "It's not like we don't know what we're getting ourselves into. Nothing is unexpected.

"We're going to go with what we've got and in the end it usually works out."

There was a big blow, though, when leading scorer Rotnei Clarke went public with his desire to transfer and said Anderson refused to grant his release. Clarke eventually got his wish with Arkansas explaining athletic director Jeff Long had to sign off on the release, something that couldn't be accomplished immediately because he was out of town at the time of the request.

Anderson declined to discuss the Clarke saga, saying his side of the story was told in Arkansas' press release. Deserved or not, he took a public relations hit. But Anderson simply chalked up every departure to the transition.

"In transition a lot of things take place," Anderson said. "But I think at the end of the day, Rotnei got his release and he has moved on and I wish him well. I wish Jeff Peterson well and Glenn Bryant. ... Maybe they can find some happiness somewhere else."

Arkansas' focus now is making sure the six returning scholarship players and four signees on campus are all on the same page.

The coaching staff got a chance to get to work with the returning players during individual workouts in April, but can't get hands on with them again until the fall. The signees - who remained committed - are now on campus getting adjusted to college life and Arkansas' program.

By all accounts, the guidelines of what Anderson demands from his players is clear.

"We're going to put in work," freshman Hunter Mickelson said. "We're going to practice and we're going to get ready for the season."

Anderson said it expands off the court, too.

"They're going to work hard and they're going to be accountable on and off the floor," Anderson said. "They're going to represent this university in a first-class manner. We're going to work to put ourselves in position to have a chance to win and that's what it is all about.

"It's more not necessarily just about winning, it's about winning the game of life. That's my job as a coach. And even though I'm just getting here I'm still their coach. That's how we've always done it and it seems to work."

Success isn't necessarily immediate. UAB won 21 games his first season, then reached the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16 in the second. Missouri won 18 and 16 games before going 31-7 with an Elite Eight trip in Anderson's third season.

But Anderson is confident Arkansas basketball will be back. And many Southeastern Conference colleagues believe he's right for the job.

"Mike's done a great job wherever he's been and done it for a long time," Mississippi State coach Rick Stansbury said during the SEC coaches' summer teleconference last Monday. "There's a reason why back in the early '90s when Mike was there in Fayetteville, they were awful successful ... He had great success at UAB and he had great success at Missouri, so I think there's a common thread there and somewhere along the way you can pull on, and I think that's probably Mike Anderson."

It may take some time to get rolling, but Anderson said it's common with remodeling.

Take that empty office, for instance. Anderson has plans for what he wants the place to look like and discussed them with Long last week.

A lot of work will have to be done, but Anderson knows it eventually will be transformed to what he imagined. And Arkansas' new coach can't wait to see the finished product.

"I guess I'm one of those guys I like the newest trend and the wow factor," Anderson said about his office, before turning his attention back to the actual remodeling of Arkansas' basketball program under his guidance. "It's a new era. More than anything, it's a new era."